Discover Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia Museum
内蒙古博物院
The regional museum is the single best primer on the grasslands before you drive out to them: Mongol nomadic material culture, Liao and Yuan dynasty finds, Xiongnu gold, and a strong dinosaur hall drawn from Inner Mongolia's fossil beds. Free, air-conditioned and genuinely well laid out.
The story
What makes this place special
The Inner Mongolia Museum, in Hohhot's Saihan District, is the region's principal museum and covers both human history and natural history. It was founded on 1 May 1957, was renamed from museum to institute in July 2007, and its then-new building opened on 8 August 2007. That building closed on 30 April 2025 and a further new building began a trial opening on 20 June 2025. The collection runs to more than 150,000 items or sets, including over 5,600 sets classed as precious and 650 sets of first-grade relics, covering fossils, archaeology and ethnographic material. Signature objects include the eagle-topped gold crown from the Xiongnu tomb at Aluchaideng, and dinosaur and pterosaur fossils including Psittacosaurus and Huaxiapterus.
What you’ll discover
Galleries organised around the grassland: prehistory and palaeontology with mounted dinosaur skeletons found in Inner Mongolia, then the nomadic sequence, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitan Liao, Mongol and Yuan, with gold work, horse gear, saddlery and burial goods, then Mongol ethnography with gers, costume, saddles and instruments. The Xiongnu gold crown with its eagle finial is the object to find.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Check which building is open before you set out. The museum moved into a new building with a trial opening from June 2025, and online listings and taxi drivers may still direct you to the old address.
- The nomadic archaeology is the reason to come: Xiongnu, Khitan Liao and Mongol material at a depth you will not see in Beijing. Give it the time and move faster through the regional modern-history galleries.
- Do this before the grasslands and before Genghis Khan's mausoleum. The museum is where the actual archaeology of the steppe is, and the grassland camps and the mausoleum are presentation rather than evidence.
- The dinosaur hall is the best thing in Hohhot for children and is usually the quietest part of the building on a weekday morning.
- Bring your passport for the ticket desk and expect bag screening. English labelling is partial; a translation app earns its keep on the Liao and Yuan material.
When to come
A weekday morning. Closed Mondays except on public holidays. It is indoors and heated, which makes it the obvious thing to do in a Hohhot winter or on a dust-storm day in spring.
Getting around
Fully accessible. A modern purpose-built museum with lifts, ramps, level galleries and accessible toilets; a wheelchair can see the whole display and seating is available. Distances are long, so a bad knee should plan breaks.
Worth knowing before you go
Summer evening slots are released in limited batches and go quickly - if you want one, set a reminder rather than turning up.
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